Broad Lighting Explained: The Friendly, Flattering Pattern Every Portrait Photographer Should Master

Broad Lighting Explained: The Friendly, Flattering Pattern Every Portrait Photographer Should Master

There’s a category of client I get regularly in my Los Angeles studio: the corporate headshot subject who walks in tense, arms crossed, absolutely certain they’re not photogenic. My job in the first ten minutes isn’t to take pictures. It’s to make the light so open and welcoming that they stop thinking about the camera. Broad lighting is one of my go-to tools for exactly that situation. It’s generous, it’s readable, and it communicates warmth before the subject even registers what you’ve done.